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כִּי לֹא מַחְשְׁבוֹתַי מַחְשְׁבוֹתֵיכֶם, וְלֹא דַרְכֵיכֶם דְּרָכָי

Monday, February 21, 2011

On the Age of the…Gedolim™!

It’s a long-established fact that Lithuanian Rabbis (better known as gedolim™ or giants) have de facto become the Rebbes of the yeshivishe world, including when it comes to brochas (blessings). The Rabbis have been put on such a high pedestal that their followers can’t conceive that they may be making mistakes. Let alone turning senile.

Perhaps below you will find a hint. In this video that was posted on Life in Israel, you can see that Rav Chaim Kanievsky does not have a clue about what Beit Shemesh is, one of the major Jewish centers in Israel. He even asks if it is in America!

That Beit Shemesh is situated in Israel should be obvious since Tenach is full of references to Beit Shemesh:

Joshua 15:10

Joshua 19:22

Joshua 21:16

Shoftim 1:33

Shmuel I 6:19

Melachim I 4:9

Melachim II 14:11

Divrei Hayamim I 6:44

Divrei Hayamim II 25:21

Divrei Hayamim II 28:18

...

Now if you will argue that haredim don’t learn much Tenach, they still should know their Gemara. Well, it happens to appear several times, not including the Yerushalmi:

Sotah 35a

Avodah Zarah 24:2

So there are two possibilities: either our Gadol Hador™ doesn’t know his sources, which would be unforgivable for a ‘gadol hador’…or he is turning senile.

In which case we should probably disregard any psak or cherem issued in his name from now on.

(Still, you could perhaps argue that he was having a bad day. Well, in that case, we should probably disregard any psak or cherem issued in his name since he was born since we don’t know if he was having a bad day or not.)

Clever post. Add on, his hearing may be going. In which case, we can’t rely on any answer unless we have methods of verifying he heard everything correctly.

Seriously, we have entered the era of superannuated rabbonim. Bodies can endure longer than minds. Modern medicine cannot do much about mental decline. Even in the past rabbonim like the Tchebiner Rav refused to pasken after age 70. Why can’t that become a new norm? Mostly because their children and handlers get enormous power and control by exploiting their declining elders. The older they are, the more yorshim they have who all have an interest in cashing in on their valuable asset.

Sadly, virtually no one considers it part of kibud av v’aim (respecting parents) to protect them from this sort of abuse. There is a less well-known part of recent rabbinical history. It involves great great minds such as Moshe Feinstein and the Rav, Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, in their last years. They suffered mental decline. Their families cared for them with respect and shielded them from exploitation and from the ridicule that inevitably follows. I fear this pattern is becoming less and less common.

UndercoverKofer- your kefirah is well above board. If you had even an shred of kibudd rov in your heart, even the glimpse of the profundity of daas toirah; you would know what even the kleineh kinderlach know. Whenever a godoil is mistaken- he is still not wrong! If such towers of toirah (not to be confused with Tower of Power, the brilliant R&B band) are denied vision, hearing or yes, even cognitive function, it is simply because HaKoidishBiruchhu wants them to pasken as such! It's your obligation to submit to their declarations regardless of your worldly corrupted view of their so-called competence. They are the anointed of the Aibishter. This should be obvious from the shvitz dripping from their overburdened foreheads! Shoyn!

What really deserves consideration is this:It's obvious that over time our Gedolim and their predecessors have created rulings that conflict with passages in the Chumash and sometimes even in the Gemara.

Should we really be worshipping an entity who has no respect for Daas Torah? Should we read texts every Shabbos that teach things which are unacceptable in our time?

If our Gedolim say left is right and right is left- then that's what we believe! So when we do and say differently then Chumash and Gemara- shouldn't the text be revised to meet our current understanding?